According to the Land Surveyor “Word Press” 16, Aug 2012 “by Edmond Cheung, “Party wall” is the physical separating wall of two adjoining building. It functions to divides houses of two different owners buildings but the wall is in shared ownership. In the DEVB(PL-CR) 2/15-08 dated 29th Mar 2010,
A party wall is an integral element, and it is unlikely that half of the same can be removed with the other half remaining intact. Therefore, the removal of the party wall is subject to heavy control stated in Buildings Ordinance Cap 123. To the very least, the lot looking for removal of his own part of “party wall” must have the consent from the rest of owners of the “party wall”. To ensure the integrity of remaining half , we usually apply the structural strengthening by in the steel bracing bolted and mounted to the structural element of the building.
This remains of party wall structure , i.e usually the half of its original wall, becomes some maintenance issues attributed to the already aged cement mortar in brick and rusting of the steel bracing by weather. The steel members sometimes become rusty and decomposed to have lost its strength and also becomes bittle . This also creates the problem of water seepage through the bolt hole path to the interior space. Owners also need to aware that the thickness of party wall is GFA consumable. Since the problem of maintenance is impairing much the integrity of wall and also poses the water seepage problem , it is important to pay attention to it maintenance and to carry out routine inspection.
The steel bracing is bolted to the structural frame of the RC building and this bracing to strengthen the integrity of the “party wall”
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